Takako – Age 52

“My most memorable experience in Japan was standing on top of Mount Fuji. Even on an aeroplane, you’re not physically standing above the clouds. It gave me a sense of perspective – the world is small so don’t fret about the small things.”

I’m living in England, Brighton and Hove for about 19 years now. I have 17 years old daughter and I’m doing Japanese teacher at high school and sixth form for about 17 years, at the same school. I do hold Japanese culture, serving calligraphy and I include to that kind of craft, corroborate, craft. I’m courtier over this group, since it be host started and just knocking to non-English married culture’s people’s houses, started from that. Only homes three, to now more than 100.

I’m living in England, Brighton and Hove for about 19 years now. I have 17 years old daughter and I’m doing Japanese teacher at high school and sixth form for about 17 years, at the same school. I do hold Japanese culture, serving calligraphy and I include to that kind of craft, corroborate, craft. I’m courtier over this group, since it be host started and just knocking to non-English married culture’s people’s houses, started from that. Only homes three, to now more than 100.

My favourite part of the job in teaching is student achievement and also I try to do not only just do study for exam. So it’s say love to Japanese culture, so keen so I introduce that is really good as well as well as happy home and selling calligraphy people would have been interest in to whole of Japanese culture. That’s going to be good because quite often long writing on t-shirts and things like that but I can introduce people real culture so I wanted to do it more.

I think be more, younger generation doing but is more open and don’t think to. You have to respect background or each other’s culture but to old saying two human can be friend as more wide way, so not respect but no need to do make border. For example, I don’t like people to say ‘I like you because you’re Japanese. I don’t want to do that so it’s just to see the back to your origin, that is like be respectful to each other, as to who you are. Not what you came from. Your colour or your character is not to do where you come from.

In terms of my values, I don’t forget where I came from, and to show other respect to other people. I’m in England so I have to shift but is so different character. Be confident in who you are. In England, to respect being independent and be yourself. In Japan, it’s fit and be normal.

The thing I miss most about Japan – Japanese baths. Sometimes the technology but also, of course, family, culture or so many places you can visit. In England, even if you visit somewhere else in Europe, it’s not that much different. But in Japan, in the same country, each part has a so much different future, food, culture etc. I miss that part. If I don’t even think about money wherever I can go, of course I would do all different countries but maybe I would do more to travel to parts of Japan I haven’t even been to.

My most memorable experience living in Japan is when I went to the top of Mt Fuji. It took all night, from midnight to very early morning, to climb. They took 80 people by bus until about 2 o clock in the morning. Then we had to walk the rest of the way, so we could see the sunrise. Even when you’re travelling on an airplane, you’re not actually physically standing above the clouds, watching the sunrise. It gave me a sense of perspective – that the world is so small and you don’t need to care about the little things so much. That was a life-changing experience for me.